H9 dispenses with its predecessor traditional SUV looks for the same retro-design as the Big Dog and Raptor. Image: autohome.com.cn
In a complete overhaul from the original, Haval has divulged first images and select details of the all-new second generation H9 due to go on-sale in China later this year.
Reimagined as part of the Great Wall Motors’ (GWM) upscale brand’s Dog range of SUVs, which focuses on off-road prowess, the H9 eschews its predecessor’s traditional design for the same boxy styling as the Haval Big Dog and the controversially named Haval Raptor that debuted in August last year.
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Its looks also incorporating elements from the Tank 300, the H9’s exact dimensions are still unknown, though expectations are it will be slightly longer than the plug-in hybrid Raptor and Big Dog, but as evident by the images, nowhere the almost 5.2 metres of the new Toyota Land Cruiser 300-rivalling H5.
According to the depictions obtained by China’s Autohome, which doesn’t include the interior, the H9 boasts the same flowing shoulder line as the Raptor, but differently styled LED light clusters and alloy wheels.
Also retained is the side-hinged tailgate affixed with the spare wheel, which seemingly won’t feature a hard cover as on the Raptor.
Reportedly based on the same platform as the GWM King Kong Cannon, which sits below the Poer (P-Series) in its bakkie range and also provides the foundation for the H5, the H9 will offer a choice of two engines, both combustion units without any electrification.
In a reversal of the Raptor, whose unibody Lemon platform allows for hybridisation, carnewschina.com reports the pair of engines bound for the H9 comprise a 2.4-litre turbodiesel and a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol, the latter likely to produce the same 160 kW as in the H5.
Similar to the Tank 300, the H9 will be outfitted with locking front and rear differentials, an off-road drive mode selector and two transmission options; an eight-speed automatic on the petrol and a nine-speed self-shifter in the case of the diesel.
Set to be fully detailed in due course, along with pricing in China, it remains open speculation as to whether the H9 will again be sold with right-hand-drive like its predecessor that quietly departed South Africa in 2022 after what had been six years.
As a reminder, the original H9 sported a single powertrain, a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol that delivered 180kW/350Nm to all four wheels through a ZF-sourced eight-speed automatic box.
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